Creatures that Breathe by M L Chambers

Author:M L Chambers [Chambers, M L]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: M L Chambers
Published: 2024-05-20T18:30:00+00:00

20

Leni

no sand, doesn't count

The weather turns. First to fluffy powdered sugar snowflakes, then to wet and hostile menaces that glob into loogie-like splats.

I overhear three separate unseasonably warm conversations, and refrain from pointing out that warm constitutes a three-digit temperature. Only twice.

Cross whisks us inside a small pub, signaling to the hostess for a table toward the back, thanking her in flawless Danish and passing her a smile she fans herself to.

“Danish, English, Estonian.” I tick off as we weave through the crowded dining room. “Is there a language you don’t know?”

His arm curls around me when we get to our table, pulling me to sit beside him on the bench against the wall.

“I’ve always been good with my tongue,” he says, loud enough to make my eyes bulge, a slight smirk on his lips. “But you’d know about that, wouldn’t you?”

I don’t have a response to that.

I’m planless, out of depths.

“People are eating,” I blurt, like he’s offered to show me, in languid detail, precisely how skilled that tongue is. He doesn’t look at me, just bends to knock the snow off his jacket.

“Astute observation.” He’s smothering a smile. “Relax, pyro, I’ll not devour you here.”

Not here. Implying … Heat streaks across my body.

“I can’t talk to you like this,” I mutter, forcing my head straight. “There’s a perfectly good chair there. We can sit face to face.” I rise halfway to an awkward wall-sit-stand-stance that makes my thighs scream when Cross’s arm snakes around me, hauls me down and drags me along the cold lacquered bench to his side. Tucks me there.

“Sit close,” he orders, eliminating the air between us. “Couples are less suspicious. Even when you’re disappearing, you have to stay alert. There’s always a chance someone could be just as skilled as you.”

The way he says it, emphasizes you, sticks to me like a glossy gold star. Like I’m just as good as him out there.

The weather worsens, and the pub fills with mortals seeking shelter. The kitchen churns out hot plates of food, and the rugged, old world bar’s taps seem endless. In short, it’s the last place I’d ever go to hide. Bustling and intimate. Cozy in a hand carved chair backs and mismatched water glasses way.

I mention my observation to Cross, and he shrugs. “Seems like the perfect reason to stay.” He passes me a laminated menu. “Relax.”

Against all odds, I do.

I doubt anyone could follow him here, anyway. Not when I almost lost him, and I was physically attached to him.

The niggling questions bubbles up, along with annoyance. A bit of my pride deflates. “You weren’t really trying to lose me this past week, were you? I never followed you in circles.”

“The mere fact that you followed me at all means that you are a better tracker than creatures who live, breathe, and die by it.” He’s stern, direct. Forceful in his compliment. “It’s not exactly a skill a princess need possess.”

“Not a princess,” I remind him.

The low hum of dissent in the back of his throat vibrates along my arm.

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